Since the birth of photography, photographers and viewers have strived to make pictures more realistic by creating three dimensional images. This has lead to the development of a wide range of methods and equipment for recording and viewing three dimensional images. Such methods included the viewing of the images through special lenses, such as 3 D glasses for the individual viewer; the creation of images on a flat surface through use of parallel circular lenses in conjunction with line screens having alternate opaque and transparent vertical lines; creating three dimensional images through use of a plurality of angularly spaced mirrors; viewing images through rapidly moving screens having spaced part openings; viewing a television screen through a series of vertically extending cylindrical lenses mounted to the television screen between the viewer and the television screen; and rapidly rotating a screen displaying a fast changing series of images generated by an external projector rotating synchronously with the screen.
None of the prior methods of creating and viewing 3 D figures have resulted in the creation of a three dimensional fixed image that can be viewed through an angle of 360.degree.. In the past, fixed 3 D images have been limited to a viewing range substantially less than a full 360.degree. angle. Thus, although prior art 3 D images appeared to have depth, they were not capable of being viewed through an angle of 360.degree..